Women and workplace competition : a study of horizontal hostility

Abstract:

Throughout society, many believe women are not succeeding professionally because of the institutional barriers created by men in the American workforce. However, women may be more competitive with other women than with men, especially when limited job positions are the goal. Competitiveness among women can be explained by a phenomenon called horizontal hostility. An examination of this phenomenon may explain the lack of women in upper management. Participants included women from two university related professional organizations. Information about women’s relationships with other women was found by using face-to-face interviews. Women identified HH, behaviors associated with HH and motivations for engaging in HH. This information may prove useful to professional women within higher education as
well as other professional organizations in their efforts to support the advancement of women.